Puritanical U.S. has Mixed Messages for Teens
POSTED BY: firefloozysuzie
UPDATED: Saturday, April 8, 2006 20:30
VIEWED: 5317
PAGE 5 of 5
Quote:
Originally posted by Geezer:
I was just responding to:
"Argue whether it should be legal or not fine but don't do it based on how it's the only non-toxic safe drug, because your wrong."
You're wording of your post was asking me why I thought Cannabis should be illegal. I apologise if that wasn't the case.
I was originally replying to the assertion that Cannabis is completely safe, which it’s not.
Quote:
Pot may have more tar but is (generally) consumed less frequently and in less volume than cigs. I'd have to do some research to determine which way the cancer risk actually goes.
Erm so? You said (or at least alluded to) Cannabis being less toxic than tobacco. How does the frequency with which people use it change the toxicity?
Arsenic is less toxic than potatoes because people eat more potatoes?
Quote:
Never heard that. Please let me have a reference.
No. My assertion is based on experience. They're maybe references, but I'll have to look them up.
More insane ramblings by the people who brought you beeeer milkshakes!
No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity. But I know none, and therefore am no beast.
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There are very few human studies on pot. However, PubMed had a few that indicated psycotic patients who smoked pot developed more atypical psychoses, more severe symptoms, were harder to treat, and required second and third line medication more often than non-users. And there is indication in the data that pot was the cause of these differences, not the effect.
But it still makes NO sense to me that doctors can't prescribe it. They can whip out the old 'script pad for oxycontin, but pot ?? God forbid.
Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.
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So anyway, I was thinking about where these mixed messages are coming from. And it comes down to from the republican party which is a grab-bag of mixed messages, depending on who materially benefits from the ideology.
Business benefits from pushing sex to advertize. It benefits from charging adult price for 12 year olds. The 'entertainment' industry benefits by hooking into sex and violence. The war machine benefits by taking advantage of the 'immortality' of young people. The earlier you introduce drugs especially alcohol and nicotine the stronger the addiction. And then the old white guys who want to run your personal life benefit by pushing their own agenda of religion, ignorance and punishment. That gives them power to dictate your life.
But that's the republican party for you. Gun toting, death penalty, war-mongering, anti-abotion, pro-business rich christians, who completely ignore the message of christ
How much better to love those that hate you
Turn the other cheek, forgive 100 plus one times
Remove the log from your own eye
He who is without sin
You cannot serve two masters
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle
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Quote:
Originally posted by citizen:
Thing is Cannabis has been cultivated to be hundreds of times stronger than it used to be during the sixties and seventies, we don't know what the long term effects could be of these newer strains.
Can't help but laugh a little. This urban legend, willingly promulgated by those who think lying to the public is the best way to ensure good behavior, has been floating around since the early 1980's.
The baseline chosen for that "Hundreds of times" stronger fallacy is a shipment of Mexican Dogweed confiscated by the DEA in the 1970's, during the height of the paraquat affair, when a lot of contaminated not-yet-ready-for-market marijuana was being cut down and shipped out before it had a chance to die "on the vine" so to speak. The THC level of this stuff was so mild that you would have had to have smoked two-three joints to get even a mild buzz.
Now the DEA knew perfectly well that this sample was of pathetic strength, but it suited their purpose to declare officially that this headache weed was of average street strength, and has based all its figures since on that assumption. The equivalent of declaring beer to be as strong as whiskey, and then claiming modern whiskey is 20-30 times stronger than it used to be.
The truth is, while modern domestic American marijuana is considerably stronger than it was during the glory days of the 60's-70's, the multiple is closer to 5-10 times more THC, not 100X. And many believe that increase is actually healthy for users, as they smoke less for the same effect, therefore reducing the amount of secondary chemicals (such as tar) brought into the lungs.
Personal note: Back during the late 80's, my son brought home a flyer from a D.A.R.E. presentation in his grade school classroom that claimed modern marijuana was one thousand times more powerful that it had been in 1972! (You wouldn't need dope sniffing dogs to find weed that strong, you could just use a geiger counter.)
When I called the local DARE headquarters on this, it turned out that they didn't know the difference between 1,000 times and 1,000 percent! (1,000% = a multiple of 10).
Needless to say, they did not correct their fliers. Their purpose was to scare the kids away from the deadly killer weed that leads to murder and communism, not to promulgate piddling facts.
Small side note, in the interest of accuracy: While marijuana does contain carcinogens such as tar, they can be greatly reduced by the simple expedient of smoking through a water pipe or bong--and Cannibis contains no nicotine. (My late cousin had AIDS, and relied on me to keep him upgraded as to the facts, both medical and legal, of medicinal marijuana.)
"Beer leads to heroin, there's no doubt about it. And mother's milk leads to everything." -- George Carlin
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Quote:
Can't help but laugh a little. This urban legend, willingly promulgated by those who think lying to the public is the best way to ensure good behavior, has been floating around since the early 1980's.
It *IS* a hell of a lot stronger than it used to be. Then you have things like Skunk.
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While marijuana does contain carcinogens such as tar, they can be greatly reduced by the simple expedient of smoking through a water pipe or bong--and Cannibis contains no nicotine.
No one said it did contain nicotine. It does contain other toxic compounds though.
A Bong will cool the smoke and remove some of the heavier tar elements, but not the carcinogens. That's one of the reasons it should be legal, so that information like how best to actually take it is freely available, it doesn't suddenly make Cannabis completely safe.
More insane ramblings by the people who brought you beeeer milkshakes!
No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity. But I know none, and therefore am no beast.
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Thanks for the information.
I believe that MJ is often laced with boosters - other hallucinogens for example - also leading to the notion it is 'stronger' than it used to be.
Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.
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